


Heroes of New York

by egwythe37



Category: Marvel, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Crossover, Gen, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:35:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24219001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/egwythe37/pseuds/egwythe37
Summary: When Pepper Potts' nephew needs a place to stay, she expects little to go smoothly, especially given that he'd be staying with the Avengers in the aftermath of the Invasion of New York. However, things get stranger than expected when a weird purple magic starts showing up and Percy seems to know something about it. He also seems to be hiding something. But he's just a kid... right?~cross-posted on Wattpad~
Relationships: Jason Grace/Percy Jackson, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 27
Kudos: 287





	1. ONE - CRASH

**Author's Note:**

> When Pepper Potts' nephew needs a place to stay, she expects little to go smoothly, especially given that he'd be staying with the Avengers in the aftermath of the Invasion of New York. However, things get stranger than expected when a weird purple magic starts showing up and Percy seems to know something about it. He also seems to be hiding something. But he's just a kid... right?

**CHAPTER ONE**

**~ Percy Jackson~**

My mother looked so peaceful in her indefinite sleep that part of me - despite the fact that I missed her dearly - wanted her to stay like that. Without worries of me, or my demigod life and whatever other weird things I attract. But of course, as she would have said to me, she wouldn't be a mother if she didn't worry constantly.

I sighed and took her hand. I couldn't remember how long it had been this way. Weeks? Months? The police had told me they were looking for someone for me to live with until my parents came to, but it seemed to be taking forever. Or maybe that was just my ADHD.

I wasn't there when it happened, I'd been called back to camp for an important counsellor meeting, but my mom and Paul had been driving home late from a restaurant they had gone to for a date night.

It was late October, and it was dark out already but they had been on a small, well-lit road and Paul was a very good driver but that didn't seem to make a difference. Without warning, a car had whipped around the corner, drunk driver at the wheel, and sped towards my parents. They had attempted to move out of the way and brake, but the other car had been moving too fast and hit them head-on.

As luck would have it, the other driver was completely unharmed aside from a slight concussion from hitting his head against the dashboard. He had - however briefly - snapped out of his drunken stupor and realized what he had caused. He called the police and an ambulance out to help them, instead of what most drivers would do - leave.

The drunk turned out to be a fairly wealthy businessman named Arthur Cartwright, who paid for the damage plus medical care, and offered to help with finding a relative for me to stay with. He also said that if I ever needed anything, that we should call him and he'd sort us out, though I figured we never would.

I glanced up at the clock, noting that it was almost the end of the hospital's visiting hours. I had school tomorrow - my last year of high school before I went to college, most likely in New Rome - so I would have to get home earlier than usual.

I stood up from my chair next to the hospital bed. Pushing her hair away from her face, I kissed my mother's forehead before releasing her hand and heading toward the door of the room. We were the only ones in there, her roommate having been released earlier that day.

Paul's room was two doors down the hall, in with another coma patient, and I alternated days to sit in with them. I walked through the mostly empty hallway towards the stairs, and took them down to the lobby, seeing as I still couldn't stand elevators.

As I passed the front desk, a blonde nurse called out to me.

"Percy? The authorities notified us. They think they've almost found someone for you to stay with. They're just checking out their background. Supposedly they'll call you to the station when they've tracked whoever it is down. They didn't say much else, though, confidentiality and all."

"Thank you, Jess," I smiled slightly at her. She was a few years older than me, but we talked often. She was a pre-med student, and did her volunteer hours here - of course, when she wasn't with her boyfriend, who was studying law at the university.

We said our goodbyes, though we both knew I'd likely be back again soon. I left the building and hailed a cab to my mom's - my apartment.

☤ ☤ ☤ ☤

I sat at the desk in my room, finishing homework from the week before. It was relatively easy, but I had Iris-Messaged Annabeth anyway, just to check it over.

After the Giant War, Annabeth had headed to Boston to look for her missing cousin and then she was going to go finish high school in San Francisco where her dad was. She would be pretty close to Camp Jupiter, but that didn't stop me from planning to constantly batter my best friend with Iris-Messages.

The rest of the Seven were scattered across the country for the school year as well, having been told by just about everyone to take a break and relax with family or friends. Despite being mostly separated, we Iris-Messaged often and had agreed on dates during the school breaks to meet up.

On the plus side, I've had a lot of free time (seeing as I don't have any chores, no counsellor responsibilities, and - the most depressing - no one to waste time with) and I've caught up on everything that I'd missed.

The Hephaestus, Athena and Hecate cabins had joined forces to figure out a way to make monster-proof technology. As it turns out, all it takes is a few lines of computer code - and because of this nearly every demigod is now required to have basic hacking skills - to get rid of the signal tech sends off to monsters, but the campers decided to add a few tricks and accessories to the phones and laptops anyway.

We called them Deltas, seeing as most now had deltas engraved on the back (courtesy of the Hephaestus cabin) and as a tribute to Annabeth's previously lost Daedalus laptop, which her mother magically retrieved for her as a 'Welcome back from Hell' present. My own 'Welcome back from Hell' present had been a minor amount of protection from monsters, and although it wasn't quite as cool as Annabeth's, it was still just as useful.

I pulled my phone out and went to Netflix, though I found that I had run out of things to watch. In the past two months, I had watched every interesting movie or TV show on the site, plus read half the books in the Athena cabin and most of the novels in my apartment, what with having my dyslexia sort-of fixed as a gift from another god for doing a short quest. It was a pair of glasses that 'corrected' my reading, but if I took them off I still couldn't read. Incredibly useful if you ask me, especially when I'm trying to get back on track with school.

Sighing, I put the phone back in my pocket and reclined in my rolling chair. I closed my eyes, wondering if sleeping would still be possible when I had stayed up this late (two AM already?). Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately), it seemed it was entirely possible as I began nodding off at the desk.

Soon, I fell asleep, my dreams full of darkness and blood and battle as usual. But, recently, there had been one sound playing over and over in the background. Brakes squealing, tires screeching, people screaming, glass shattering, and then silence.

The sound of a car crash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, quick note, hi. I apologise if I messed something up in the hospital scene, I don't quite understand how the US healthcare system works... So sorry. Also, I realise that this first chapter was mostly background info but the next one will have more stuff happening and even so, this is just the beginning, so nothing's gonna be super exciting for a bit. Thanks!


	2. TWO - PROJECT

**Chapter Two**

**~Percy Jackson~**

A high pitched beeping woke me, the shrill screams of the _arai_ fresh in my mind. I almost pulled out Riptide before I realized it was just the screeching of my alarm clock. I stood from my chair slowly and stretched, trying to get the cricks out of my neck and back from falling asleep on my desk.

I looked at the still beeping alarm. It was five o'clock (damn you, camp routine), plenty of time to get ready. After shutting off the noise, I got dressed into jeans and a faded band shirt. Gathering my homework from the desk, I made sure Riptide was in my pocket and that my bead necklace was on before I headed to the kitchen.

I made some coffee for myself - though I still think it tastes disgusting (even when loaded with sugar), it wakes me up - and grabbed some toast. Before I knew it, the coffee and toast were done and I was headed out the door.

I checked that my phone was in my pocket, then pulled on my hoodie and shoes. Grabbing my skateboard from the closet, I walked out, shouldering my bag.

I skateboarded to Goode High School, which was a few blocks away from my apartment, one earbud in and blasting Green Day. As usual, I was early, seeing as I'm probably the only teenager on the planet who would ever even think about waking up and actually getting out at five in the morning when it was unnecessary. But that was alright, I guess. I got in before the other students, so I wasn't jostled in the halls, and I sometimes scared the schist out of some late teachers that walked into their supposedly empty, somehow unlocked classrooms (so maybe my time in the Hermes cabin wasn't totally useless).

I waited in homeroom as all the kids trickled in, having put away my unneeded things in my locker long ago. I didn't have to wait long before my friend Peter sat down next to me.

"Dude, how did you beat me here again? Or, more importantly, _why_? I actually have a reason to be here before school starts, but you? It's like you live here, I swear!" he exclaimed.

I only shrugged in response, pushing the anti-dyslexia glasses up the bridge of my nose. The truth was, I was quite used to waking up early, because, although camp was pretty lax, the training and schedules were similar to a boot camp, even more so with the Romans around so often.

Peter Parker was in a few of my classes this year - math, AP tech, English, AP history - but we really only got to know each other because our lockers are only a few away from one another. We quickly became close friends, even though he lived quite far away from where I was.

Peter shook his head at me.

"Fine, whatever. Just remember we gotta meet up later for that history project. It's due in, like, three days." He told me.

"Got it," I replied. "So, this isn't just some diabolical plan to get junk food?"

"C'mon, man! Aunt May just adores you, and therefore, orders pizza, and I want pizza right now."

I chuckle. "I'll walk home with you, then."

Before we could continue, the teacher began taking attendance.

☤ ☤ ☤ ☤

The school bell finally rang, signalling the end of the day. I sighed in relief, because even though my dyslexia was gone, I still had trouble with English (also, its not like ADHD is exactly great in a classroom, either). It was as if it wasn't my first language. In fact, I had so much trouble with it, that I actually ended up telling people that it wasn't. It apparently seemed believable, as I did have a bit of an accent from constantly speaking Greek at camp. Most of us do it without even realizing and we only really found out after Rachel came and couldn't understand a word we were saying.

I realized my ADHD had distracted me again, and I got up and grabbed my stuff, heading out towards my locker. I did the lock's combination and stuffed my homework into my backpack.

Within a few moments, Peter appeared next to me and put away his things as well, slinging his bag over his shoulders. We started on our way down the hall. We passed Ned, Peter's best friend, who also seemed to be working on some partner project. He waved at us as we walked by, before continuing on his own way. Peter's other sort-of-friend (from what I heard she mostly just insulted them and made sarcastic comments [sounds like Thalia]) Michelle, was standing to the side of the hall, seemingly waiting for the rushes of people to die down so she could get through the halls unjostled.

I tugged on the upper sleeve of his jacket, bringing him back to Earth, and we continued down the hallway.

☤ ☤ ☤ ☤

"You know, like, everything about the pagans. Seriously, get a hobby!" Peter exclaimed, disbelief clear in his voice. We were sitting on the floor of his room, papers spread out around us.

"This _is_ my hobby," I replied, amusedly and pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose. "And it's the only reason you'll pass this unit."

Peter shrugged.

"Hey, so I didn't pay attention in any of the mythology units. I got extra credits for being the school photographer. And I _still_ get extra credits for it." He told me. "Anyway, what did Hercules do?"

"Heracles," I corrected, my inner Annabeth coming out as I spoke, "Hercules is his Roman form. And he most famously completed twelve labours, including the retrieval of an Apple of Immortality from the Garden of the Hesperides near the middle of Mount Osiris, the mountain on which Atlas stands and holds up the sky. The tree the Apples grow from is Hera's and is guarded by four nymphs - previously five, daughters of Atlas - and a massive hundred-headed dragon called Ladon, whose sole duty is to prevent anyone from taking the fruits of the tree. It was Heracles' eleventh labour - which is the one this project is about - and although he did complete it, he didn't do it alone... Not that anyone knew that..." I added as an afterthought, trying to hide my sadness at the memory of Zoë Nightshade.

Peter looked at me funny for a minute, before scribbling down some notes on what I'd just said. At first, I thought he'd noticed the sorrow in my voice at the end, before I realized I'd said most of my monologue in present tense. _Oops_.

I shook it off and pretended not to have noticed, hoping he'd let it slide. It seemed like he did, although I could never be sure with him.

I was saved from any potentially dangerous questions when Aunt May's voice could be heard from downstairs.

"Boys! Your pizza's here!" she called up to us.

We grinned at each other before darting to our feet and racing down the stairs. The smell of hot pizza was overwhelming as we reached the bottom of the stairs and looking into the kitchen revealed Aunt May and two large pizzas, one cheese and one pepperoni.

Aunt May handed us each a plate, telling us we were free to eat upstairs so we could work on our assignment. Snatching a few slices from the box and tossing them onto our plates, we quickly thanked her and sprinted back up the stairs.

As we sat in his room a few moments later, eating and writing, Peter looked up for a moment, frowning slightly.

"Hey, just a question, how come you never let anyone over to your house?" He asked, tilting his head to one side.

Now, I didn't generally like to lie, especially to close friends like Peter, but how exactly was I supposed to tell him the truth?

' _Sorry, my parents are in an indefinite coma and I constantly have bleeding half-gods in my apartment. My apartment is partially destroyed, despite the fact that I apparently stress-clean, and I have weird symbols painted on the walls and windows in rather questionable substances to ward off some creepy shit as well as signify protection for some almost equally creepy shit. Not to mention I have a giant demon hound and creepy, stick-thin, emo friend that sporadically show up from the shadows and sometimes these crazy man-hating girls appear to get supplies and information from me. Also, I occasionally get kidnapped by secret government organizations because we like to have friendly chats in interrogation rooms and even though I'm like eighty percent sure you aren't exactly who you say you are, I can't take any chances and have you mixed up in all that, now can I_?'

Yeah, no. Not gonna do that. I settled for a half-truth.

"Ehm..." I hesitated, building the story in my mind. "My mom is really sick. Not enough so that we have to take her to the hospital, but she's currently bedridden and I feel bad if I bring people over 'cause she always feels the need to entertain guests but she can't really now and I just-" I realized I was rambling, and trailed off, looking away from my friend. It was less of a truth than I wanted it to be, but now I'd said it and I'd have to remember and maintain the tale before it was forgotten or twisted.

Peter looked at me sympathetically.

"Hey, hey. It's alright, you don't have to, uh, you don't have to keep going..." He trailed off, looking a little guilty. "Besides, we gotta get on with this project if I wanna pass history."

I smiled lightly and went back to colouring the title page of our project.


	3. THREE - SPARKY

**Chapter Three**

**~Peter Parker~**

Okay, so Percy was a _little_ weird. I accept that about him. He's smarter than he looks; has a hard time reading and writing English, even though he speaks it almost fluently; the glasses he wore didn't seem to be for anything specific because he could see fine both near and far without them; he knows really weird, random things, mostly based around mythology; he never has anyone over; and I don't think I've ever seen him with any of his other friends, despite the fact that he talks about them rather enthusiastically (though one of them seemed to be a little more than that from the description, but Percy didn't say anything, so neither did I).

He didn't like telling people about himself, and when he did, it always seemed like he was holding back, even with simple things like what he did on his summer break. On top of that, Percy sometimes disappears for days, like he's dropped off the face of the earth. But each time he returned, it was almost as though he had never left. According to some other students that had been at Goode longer, Percy had completely missed last year, even though he hadn't retaken anything and didn't seem to have transferred schools.

Along with that gossip came the rumours that Percy was _covered_ in scars. Sure, everyone could see the little ones on his arms and legs, and the few pale lines on his face and neck, but his torso is said to look like a road map, lines of varying width and length crisscrossing the expanse of skin. No one ever said much other than that, though. As odd and intimidating as Percy seemed, he was probably one of the nicest people you would ever meet, and most felt it was the least they could do to keep him safe by never mentioning Percy Jackson to anyone outside of school or to a figure of authority unless strictly necessary.

I tried not to think about it too much, but it kept coming to the front of my mind.

His parents didn't seem to care where he went, or when, or why, or with whom. It didn't even seem like he told them that he wasn't coming home.

What could possibly be going on with him? Was he being hurt by someone at home? This wasn't the first time I had thought about this.

I finally decided that when he went home tonight I would either drive him or follow him home. Okay, that was pretty stalker-ish, but we'd been friends for a while now and I was honestly getting a little worried.

At first, I thought he might be a vigilante like Spiderman, but there hadn't been sightings of any other masked heroes in this part of New York (there were the Avengers, who watched most of the city, but didn't really step in unless there was a bigger threat [except Hawkeye, clearly he does whatever he wants]; Spiderman, _not suspiciously_ _at all_ running my area of New York; and at least four probably-super-powered people running around Hell's Kitchen and Harlem [though Daredevil was the most well-known]) and none of the existing ones really fit the description. He didn't seem the type to be a villain either, and none of the recent ones had fit his appearance anyway.

Realizing it was getting late, I turned to Percy, who was putting the pages of our print-out into a folder.

"You need a ride home?" I asked as he finished.

"Nah, I think I'm good. But I really should go before it gets too dark out." He stood up and stretched, his fingertips brushing the low ceiling. "You know how it is now, with all those super-dudes hanging around. Thanks, though."

"Yeah, okay. Be careful out there, then." Percy grabbed his stuff and I walked him to the door. Saying our goodbyes, I gave him a good head start, changing into my Spiderman outfit before leaping out the window after him.

☤ ☤ ☤ ☤

Percy lived farther away than I'd thought. It had been more than half an hour of following him through alleys and small streets. It was like he was _trying_ to walk through all the sketchiest parts of the city before going home.

Even better, it had started raining, and spandex isn't great for water-resistance. Like, _at all_. Percy seemed fine though, he might have even stood a little taller as the rain pounded down.

However, once lightning struck, he started to get anxious. Was he afraid of lightning?

Percy started walking faster, bordering on a run before he reached another alley. It didn't seem to be any different from the others, but he slowed walking through it, checking behind boxes and inside trash bins.

Finally, opening a bin at the other end of the alley, he laughed and shook his head fondly, which confused me. That is, until he spoke.

"Wow. I knew you were trash, but this is overdoing it a little." Percy grinned widely, reaching inside the bin as if to help someone up.

And someone did come out of the bin, grasping Percy's forearm and frowning. He was tall, about Percy's height, and had short blond hair and blue eyes. His skin was tanned and it was because of that, that the little white scar on his lip stood out.

"Yeah, yeah, joke all you want, I'll kick your _podex_ when I find my glasses." The guy muttered, squinting at the bottom of the trash bin.

Percy grabbed the guy around the waist and lifted him out of the bin like it was nothing, before reaching down next to him to retrieve the item in question.

"My hero!" Blondie exclaimed, mock-swooning as his golden frames were presented to him.

Percy snorted. "Sure, princess, but I'm not kissing you 'til you shower."

The more they talked, the more I began to realize this was probably the guy Percy had told me was his 'friend' (read: boyfriend, really). I think his name was Jason, but Percy mostly referred to him as 'Sparky' and 'Superman' or even 'Grace', which I assumed to be his last name.

It was a second before the scene caught up with me. Percy had found this guy in a dumpster, seemingly without prompting from the guy, and hadn't seemed fazed when he had to pull him out. In fact, I was pretty sure Jason was bleeding, and his clothes - a blue shirt with the Superman logo and light blue jeans - were torn in several places. It only further proved that Percy Jackson was _weird_.

"Come on," I heard Percy tell him, "I'll patch you up at the apartment. I just replenished my supplies."

Jason grinned and slung an arm over the other's shoulders, leaning on him as they limped in what I assumed was the direction of Percy's apartment.

"So why are you here, anyway? I thought you were in San-Fran helping Frank with his praetorship." Percy asked as they rounded a corner.

 _Praetorship? What the hell is that? Maybe I heard wrong._ I was following across the rooftops, only able to hear them with my enhanced senses and even then it was hard.

"Well, I was until, uh, Thalia and her girls ID'd a camper that'd gone MIA during the gigantomachy. They would've followed themselves, but the... animal they're tracking wasn't exactly gonna slow down for a lost kid." Jason stared hard at Percy every few words, like they all had a double meaning.

I turned over the sentence in my head. It was just so weird and I felt like I was missing something huge, though that may have been because I didn't know who Thalia was, what a 'camper' meant in this context, or what a 'gigantomachy' could possibly be. Google would be thoroughly consulted later.

Despite my confusion, Percy seemed to understand what the blond was saying, nodding and smirking, making gestures with the hand I couldn't see. From then on, the two teens didn't speak a word of English. I heard bits of Spanish, Italian and French (was that Chinese?), what I assumed was Greek (which I expected, Percy had said it was his first language) and Latin, and that was really weird because not only was it supposedly a dead language, but Percy didn't exactly seem the type to study up on ancient languages. Or anything, to be honest.

I was beginning to think they'd noticed me following them, but I hadn't even made a noise and they showed no other signs of acknowledgement.

Keeping on their trail, the two led me to an apartment complex. It wasn't a shady building, exactly, but it wasn't nice either. It was more like the owner didn't care what the residents did as long as the building stayed intact.

 _Percy lives here?_ I thought. It was a lot farther away from my area than I'd imagined, but maybe that was because I hadn't moved after transferring to Goode (Midtown High hadn't made it after that one weird summer where everyone fell asleep).

Percy pulled Jason inside and I did my best to hear which floor they ended up on, but it seemed that I lost track of them. Which was also weird because I had pretty damn good hearing, usually able to hear through several walls. _What the heck?_

Eventually, I gave up. The only other thing I could've done was check every widow for Percy and Jason, but that came to a whole other level of creep. So after taking note of the building's location, I headed out into the city, knowing that there would no doubt be crime to stop.

It was only when I got home that I realized the storming had stopped as soon as Percy found Jason in the alleyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just letting you guys know i have no idea what im doing and i appreciate all your support so far  
> tbh tho if anyone has any ideas let me know


	4. FOUR - GUARDIAN

**Chapter Four**

**~Pepper Potts~**

As soon as I got the call about the Jacksons, I started thinking up ways to prepare for having Percy here, or at least to keep an eye on him while he needed me to. The kid was seventeen, he probably didn't either want or need much of a guardian at this point.

I'd still ask Tony to set up a room for him in case he decided to stay over, but I decided there should be a bit of a wait on that - what with not having seen Percy since he was a toddler. He most likely didn't even remember me.

Sally was my second cousin, and though we didn't talk much after we grew up, I still loved her like a sister, and to hear what happened to her and her husband - I was more than happy to take in her son.

I was told I'd have to head down to the police station today for a quick background check, and then I'd be allowed to meet with Percy there before taking him with me.

Before I left, I knocked on the door to Tony's lab, hoping he wouldn't be so focused on his projects that he couldn't hear me. Fortunately, he answered.

"Yeah?" he shouted over the noise of machinery and AC/DC.

"Tony, I'm going down to the police station to pick up Percy, I'll be back in an hour or two."

"What? Who's where? Did someone get arrested?" Tony asked, poking his head out from behind the door.

I sighed. "I told you this already. My cousin's kid might be staying with us for a bit."

"Right, yes," he muttered. "The kid whose parents are in a coma, right."

"Yes, Tony. Okay? I'll be back soon, don't work too long," I told him.

"Yeah, yeah sure, Pep," he said, sort of offhandedly, already thinking about the next big project and obviously not listening to me. He headed back into the lab.

I grimaced, then looked upward.

"JARVIS? Make sure Tony takes a break to eat before I get back, please."

From the ceiling, JARVIS's English accent voiced, "Of course, ma'am."

With that, I walked over to the elevator, my high heels clicking in the empty hall behind me.

☤ ☤ ☤ ☤

After a few questions and a quick search for any police record, I was given the final green light as the guardian of one Perseus Jackson. The cop at the desk seemed to think it was her duty, however, to warn me about _him_. Apparently, he had quite the police record, was a suspect in several crimes, and a witness in even more. He'd never actually been arrested, and there wasn't enough evidence to bring him in on anything, but for all intents and purposes, Percy Jackson was a delinquent.

I couldn't believe that a child of Sally Jackson, the kindest woman in the world, could possibly have grown up to be such a criminal, but the police database said otherwise. Some of it was entirely unbelievable - blowing up a school, setting a cheerleader on fire, stealing a cop car (which was in California, so the New York Police couldn't really do anything about it) - but from what I'd heard, Percy had always been a troubled child, and he hadn't grown up in the best circumstances. An abusive step-father, little money, moving from school to school, dyslexia and ADHD.

I stopped the policewoman when she tried to accuse the kid of blowing up the St. Louis Arch back when he'd been kidnapped at the age of twelve.

"Look, I'm just gonna wait for my nephew over here," I pointed to the chairs near the door, "and if you say one more bad word about him to me or anyone else wherein it doesn't involve an _actual investigation_ , I'll have you written up for harassment of a minor."

Clearly, the woman was a rookie as she obviously believed me and simply nodded silently, returning to her desk work.

Someone chuckled behind me. "You know, technically I'm your second cousin, once removed," said a deep, smooth voice.

I spun around, gasping, "Oh, Percy! Look at you, you've gotten so big."

It was true, the last time I'd seen him he'd barely come up past my knee. Now he was taller than me, even in my heels. His skin was tan and his hair (black as night but with an odd little grey streak) wild and windswept like he spent most of his time at the beach, the light scent of sea salt seeming to prove that. He smiled, and his eyes crinkled a bit with the sincerity of it. He was carrying a black duffle bag over his shoulder, which looked absolutely packed full of stuff.

"Hi, Pepper," Percy said, sounding a little embarrassed.

I smiled back at him and opened my arms for a hug. He hesitated slightly, then seemed to mentally shrug and go in for a bear hug, nearly lifting me off my feet. Despite his height, he somehow managed to bury his face in my neck and clung like a child seeking comfort, which I suppose is what he was. I smiled softly, rubbing his back with one hand and running my fingers through his hair with the other.

"Thanks," he whispered, gripping me a little tighter before letting go and straightening. "Now, do we need anything else here, or should we get going?"

"No, I think we're all ready. Anywhere you want to go before we head to the tower?" I asked him.

Percy shook his head, then gestured to the door, hitching his bag up on his shoulder a little farther. We walked out, heading down the street. Stark Tower wasn't far from the station we met in.

"Just a few blocks," I said, "you can actually see it from here, between those two buildings."

I pointed out the tower to him. He gaped.

"Woah, you live _there_? Man, I knew you were well-off but _wow_. If you don't mind me asking, isn't that the place where a bunch of superheroes live?"

"Sort of," I shrugged. "Most of them don't live there full time, but they all have a designated place for them to stay in the tower whenever they want it."

He gazed at the tower a little bit in awe as we walked, mumbling things under his breath about architecture and someone named 'Annabeth'.

"Now. Percy, I know you have your own life outside of all this. Of course you're welcome to live at the tower, but you don't have to stay with me all the time if you don't want to, I think you're old enough to be on your own when you need to be. I'll pay for your rent and expenses at the apartment, and I can sign anything you need me to for school, just try to keep out of trouble, and let me know if you're leaving or when you think you'll be coming back. I'll give you my number as well as Tony's as soon as we get you settled." I looked over at Percy, who nodded, a little wide-eyed at all the information.

At that moment, we stepped up to the sidewalk in front of Stark Tower (though better known today as the Avengers Tower). Percy craned his neck trying to see the top of the tower. I chuckled and glanced over at him.

"Ready to go in?"


	5. FIVE - TOWER

**Chapter Five - Tower**

**~Percy Jackson~**

Pepper and I walked through the doors of the sleek building, passing business people of all sorts in the lobby. I suddenly felt a bit under dressed in my hoodie and jeans. I looked down at my shoes, trying to hide my face, but it only made me realise how ratty my old sneakers looked. I felt my face get hot.

Pepper, unfortunately, noticed my embarrassment. She smiled at me softly.

“Don’t worry about it, Percy. You don’t have to dress up unless you're working in the offices. And if you really want, we can get you some new clothes later on. Anything you want,” she said.

Still feeling a bit awkward, I mumbled my thanks. She patted my shoulder slightly, then turned to grab something from the secretary’s desk. Pepper handed it to me and I found that it was a keycard, probably for the elevator or whatever else in this high-tech building required identification to access.

“This card,” she explained, “will allow you access to most places in the building - some of the office levels and Tony’s lab are restricted for specific access levels, but the one you probably don’t want anyway and the other only Stark himself can give you access to. You’ll only need the card for a little while, the building’s AI will come to recognize you and your access levels once you're inputted in the system. Sound good?”

I nodded, “Yeah, that works. Thanks.”

I wasn’t too certain about being put in some rich guy’s personal database, but I figured it was best not to argue right then. We stepped into the elevator, which was at the back of the lobby and required a keycard to access. I clenched my fists a bit as the doors closed, memories of my time in Tartarus coming forth. They’d gotten a little better, but it’s not like I had to deal with elevators on a daily basis. I took a deep breath.

“Hey, are there any stairs in this building?” I asked, trying to find a way to avoid the elevators later.

Pepper looked at me a bit oddly, but responded, “Yeah, they’re a little hidden though. I’ll show you them when I give you the tour. Our floor is near the top though, so it isn’t really a common way to go.”

I nodded. I’d be fine for now, but I didn’t think I’d be able to handle using the elevator everyday. The elevator made a little ‘ _ding_ ’ as it stopped and the doors opened.

“ _The common floor, Ms. Potts_ ,” came a voice from the ceiling as we stepped out.

I flinched a bit, and automatically looked for the source of the noise.

“That,” Pepper said, “is JARVIS, the AI I mentioned earlier. He’ll help you with anything you need, just ask. He’s pretty much everywhere in the building. JARVIS, say hi to Percy.”

“ _Good afternoon, sir_.”

“Uh… Hi, JARVIS,” I replied. It felt weird talking to the air.

Pepper smiled at me, “Anyway, shall I give you the grand tour?”

“Sure, why not?”

We began walking as Pepper talked. The room was minimalistic, but homey. Despite the modern, sleek look of the furniture and design, I could see that the room was well lived in. There were scuff marks on the walls, open books and magazines lying on the coffee table and a few foam bullets lying around the room like someone had recently had a Nerf war and didn’t quite get everything cleaned up.

“As you can see, this is the living area. Everyone who lives here in the building hangs out here at some point during the day. There’s a gaming system hooked up to the TV, and we have all the channels. The kitchen is just on the other side, I think it’s mostly why they all like this spot so much,” Pepper laughed a bit.

At the other end of the room was a breakfast bar with several comfy-looking stools, and behind that was the kitchen. Updated appliances, marble countertops, glass cabinets - I was starting to sound like a real estate agent.

“Everyone takes turns cooking meals when they’re here, but you’re free to use the kitchen whenever you like. The fridge has enough in it to keep the Hulk fed for a year but we do shopping every Tuesday, the list is on the fridge door. You can have anything in here unless it’s specifically labelled for someone else.”

She then led me down a long, wide hallway, past what looked like a bathroom, some kind of art studio, Pepper’s personal office, a library and what I assumed were other offices or similar things. We entered a large room with a ping-pong table, some old-school arcade games and vending machines (though from what I could see of them, they didn’t have any slots for money). A modern-looking set of stairs on one side of the room led up to a more open area, still with tons of doors, but each door was different - a certain style, an odd colour, a careful design - with symbols engraved on little plaques next to the door frame. I recognised a few of them from the media as the symbols for the Avengers, but others I wasn’t sure of. We finally stopped at one of the doors (plain and bearing a blank plaque), and Pepper rested her hand on the doorknob.

“This will be your room while you stay here. It’s currently empty - just the bed and a dresser - but we can get you some stuff later, and there’s a bathroom attached - shower, bath, everything.”

I nodded, “You guys really didn’t have to do all this for me. Thank you so much for all of this, I’ll repay you in any way I can.” I was mostly grateful that someone cared about my mother so much - even after losing touch with her - that they would do such things. It meant that if anything ever happened to me on a quest or something, then my mother would have a good support network for whatever she needed.

Pepper smiled warmly at me, and pushed the door open.

All I could do was stare.

I had to say, from her description of the room, I was expecting something… smaller. The room was _huge_. There was a bed pushed against one wall, and a dresser across the room on the opposite wall - as promised - but the room was probably the size of my whole apartment. The walls were beige and bare, which made the room feel much larger than it was, not to mention the empty space.

“Woah,” was all I could seem to say. Pepper laughed at me.

“Door at the back on your left is the bathroom, and the one on the right is a closet. There are fresh sheets and more pillows in there if you decide you need them. Bathroom is stocked with soaps and towels, as well as some standard, one-size-fits-all bathrobes.” She waved her hand nonchalantly. “Oh, and Tony insisted on leaving a mint on your pillow. Something about feeling like he runs a hotel for vagabond heroes.”

“Thanks,” I choked out, “thank you both so much.”

“No worries, Percy. Now -” Pepper’s phone suddenly went off. “Oh, damn it. It’s 1:30 already? I’m so sorry, Percy, but I have a meeting I have to go to, because lord knows Tony won’t. I’ll be back in - three? - three and a half hours, so why don’t you get yourself settled in, explore a bit on your own. Maybe you’ll run into one of the others.”

Pepper spoke quickly, starting to leave at a ridiculously fast pace considering the heels she was wearing (I briefly wondered if she’d be able to do Catwoman stuff in them, like running and jumping, because that would be seriously cool). At the last second, she poked her head back around the doorframe and pointed to the opposite side of the hallway.

“Staircase for the whole building is on the far end of the hall. It’s mostly used for emergencies like fires and power failures, but you won't bother anyone using them whenever you want.”

She disappeared back into the hallway then, and I shouted a ‘thank you’, but I wondered if perhaps she’d already made it down to the next floor because I could only faintly hear the _click-clack_ of her heels now.

I looked back at the room, then down at my tiny duffle bag, which holds only the necessities. Not exactly a ton to unpack. I closed the door, and locked it behind me out of habit.

Well, I had three and a half hours to unpack and explore. Better get started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did i forget about this? yes! will it ever happen again? probably!  
> anyway thanks for all your lovely comments they warm my heart  
> let me know if you find any mistakes, bc like everything else, this is unbetad, though i read it over super quick before posting


	6. SIX - WANDER

**Chapter Six - Wander**

**~Percy Jackson~**

I had finished unpacking a few minutes ago, and was considering what to do. Maybe I’d just waste a few hours lying in the suspiciously comfortable bed (not that I’d _actually_ be able to stay still for that long, considering my ADHD, but it was a nice thought, especially considering the bed), or I could wander around a few more floors of the tower. 

Now _that_ was a plan. I could _do_ wandering. I was even better at getting in trouble for said wandering, but that little detail was going to be for the time being.

I rolled off of the awesome bed and made my way out of the room, heading toward the stairs. As promised, there was a door directly at the bottom of the stairs. It was painted the same colour as the walls, and almost blended in, except for the handle and the ‘EMERGENCY EXIT’ sign posted above it. Usually there was a map inside fire exit stairwells, for safety purposes and that. Maybe that would guide my wandering a little.

I opened the door. There was, in fact, a map - each floor was given a name (mostly boring stuff like ‘Lobby’ and ‘General Offices’) and some of the visible rooms marked with symbols (which was a real blessing since I wasn’t wearing my anti-dyslexia glasses and I didn’t want to show up somewhere thinking it was a game room and actually end up in a random financial office). One floor was split in half, marked on one side with a gear - probably a mechanic’s workshop - and on the other side with an Erlenmeyer flask - a science lab, likely shared by Stark and Dr. Banner, if Peter and Annabeth’s ramblings were to be believed (which they were). 

Another floor was taken up entirely with one mark, a dumbbell - assumedly this was the gym. That was as good a place as any to explore, especially because I would probably use it myself at some point.

I took the stairs down two floors and then checked the floor number by the door before opening it. The gym was huge - bigger than I expected it to be.

There was an obstacle course along the outside, with ropes, hurdles - the works. In the middle of the room was a typical gym set-up - workout machines, free weights, treadmills, punching bags, and a couple of mats laid out. There was also a boxing ring, the floor of it worn from use. The walls were entirely made into rock-climbing walls of varying difficulties (and one section of the wall was practically flat, a few obvious handholds spaced out over the wall, but each a significant leap away from one another). I followed the handholds’ path up to the ceiling, where there were hooks and pulleys, probably for obstacles like the ropes to hang from. Way up above those were the ventilation shafts and the cables from which the giant industrial lights hung. 

I had just started to make my way into the middle of the room when I heard a faint banging noise. It was slow, like someone trying to be quiet without being able to properly hear themselves, and it was coming from the far end of the room. 

I readied myself, but stayed calm. I wasn’t sure who else was in the tower, so it was possible that someone was in the change room (I could see the doors there, as well as what must have been an observation room, behind a thick glass window). However, this was also the living place of _actual superheroes_ . It could totally be some sort of villain, or monster or worse… _fans_. 

I pulled out Riptide - still in pen form, of course - and cautiously approached the source of the noise. As I got nearer, the sound got louder (as it should when you get closer to a sound), and it became clear that the sound was not, in fact, coming from the changing rooms. It wasn’t even coming from the observation room. No, the slow _thud, thud, thud_ was coming from something above me.

I paused, and looked slowly upward. The ceiling vents were shaking slightly. The movement was nearly right on top of me when the metal began to creak loudly. Obviously, whatever was in there (probably a person from the movement pattern, and from the quiet cussing I could now hear) couldn’t hear the creaking because they kept moving, not even slowing down. The second the person was directly above me, the vents shook violently, creaked and gave out. 

With only a split second to make a decision, I stuck my arms out and braced myself, catching the guy who tumbled from the ceiling (and only stumbling a little!). 

There was a moment of silence where we just stared at each other, eyes wide in shock. I sort of recognised the guy - wasn’t he that arrow dude? Hawkguy, or something. The Apollo kids talk about him a lot (mostly about the archery, but sometimes they ramble and start talking about the ‘golden halo the sun makes on his gorgeous head’ or his ‘glorious biceps’. To me, he just sort of reminded me of that guy from _The Bourne Legacy_. 

Finally, the guy seemed to realize what was happening and threw himself out of my outstretched arms and rolled onto the floor. 

“Who are you?” He shouted, his fingers twitching a little, like he wanted to make some sort of symbol or gesture. I was pretty sure this guy was deaf, or at least hard-of-hearing.

“Hey, it’s okay, my name is Percy,” I said, signing as I spoke. “Are you deaf?” 

My sign language was a little rusty, but he seemed to understand (most of the Hephaestus kids were too, not to mention the amount of demigods either born deaf or ended up with hearing loss due to battles or explosions - even my hearing wasn’t up to the demigod standards anymore - because of that, ASL or a variant of it was pretty much a must at camp).

_Lost my hearing aids_ , he signed at me, _thought I might have left them in the vents. No luck._

I nodded in understanding, then asked him about when he was sure he had them last.

_Took them out to sleep, gone when I woke up,_ his signing was almost too fast to understand, but I could understand his panic. _Didn’t notice until after I got up and ate, didn’t really think about it._

“Okay, let’s see if we can find them in your room then, if you don’t mind. All the rooms are in the same place, right?” I made sure to move my lips clearly, as I wasn’t too sure on the grammar of ASL, instead putting the words in the order of spoken English.

He nodded his fist at me - ‘yes’ - and stood up properly, having been sat on the floor the whole time. 

I offered my arm out to him, and he rested his hand on my arm - now able to get a better sense of where I was and what I was doing, despite his inability to hear me (or at the very least, hear me _well_ \- I had no clue how much hearing the guy had left, really). 

We made our way to the elevator, which was on the right wall, near the corner of the room. 

“JARVIS, could you take us to the common floor? And - I dunno - is there some sort of scan you can do to see if his hearing aids are anywhere else?”

“ _Of course, Mr. Jackson. I do believe that I am capable of such a thing, but it will take time_ ,” came the voice from above.

“Thanks, man.”

Without me even touching it, the elevator _ding-_ ed and opened. We boarded, the doors closing behind us.

Hawkguy must have felt me tense, because he glanced over at me and tightened his grip on my arm as we started to move.

_Okay?_ He asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, thanks. Let’s just find your hearing aids.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hawkeye is legit one of my all-time favs - and I'm making more like Fraction's comic run than the MCU but whatever, I love him. Also, I'm maybe gonna go back and edit the chapters before this super quick bc I think I found some mistakes. Let me know if you find anything weird bc i dont have an editor or anything

**Author's Note:**

> Feeling generous? Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/egwythe37  
> Want to chat? find me on tumblr at elizardbethgwythe37  
> See you around ;)


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